Can the indiscriminate eater make peace with the disciplined dieter within?
(YES. But first…)
Let’s face it.
There are two distinct voices within for anyone who has ever had a weight problem.
How about we meet these two, face to face (and fork).
For one, there’s the indiscriminate eater.
Qualities: You know, the one that wants to eat whatever it wants, whenever it wants, as much as it wants.
The Challenge: Denying that this voice exists only makes it emerge in the must unseemly, unmanageable, and covert ways. Like bingeing, sneaking food, and hiding rations.
And if you haven’t experienced all three of these behaviors like I have, then maybe two of them, or one. Or had the desire to implement one of them.
Then we have the disciplined dieter.
Qualities: The one who actually knows (deep down, you do) how and what to eat to be able to lose weight or maintain weight and be healthier. And the disciplined dieter we are talking about is the one with wisdom. The OCD – obsessive compulsive dieter – is another voice entirely. Let’s get that clear.
The Challenge: Potentially, getting derailed in “perfect diet” muddle that gets you nowhere fast when it comes to your fitness, fat loss, and weight management goals. Most often challenged by the disowned voice of the indiscriminate eater.
Actually, there are several other voices out there in the eating and food realm but for now we’re sticking to the two in the title.
Evidence
Each of these voices leaves definite trails of qualifying symptoms.
Most obviously, the indiscriminate eater emerges as what I refer to as the “spoiled brat syndrome”. Certain that it is surrounded by other women who all can eat “whatever they want whenever they want and still stay thin”, there is a loud stamping of the foot in rebellion when the common sense of the disciplined dieter mentions her agenda.
This creates an enormous conflict within. It can lead to the pain of white-knuckle dieting (a losing proposition and not to be aspired to, trust me) and its inevitable backlash.
The disciplined dieter voice wants, most of all, discipline so that it can maintain control. This is necessary for it to create successful weight management, fitness, or weight loss. Evidence of the disciplined dieter can be found in plans, lists, good and bad categories, and “good and bad” eating behaviors. Some of these pathways are more productive than others. For example, when we get into “good and bad” anything, we hook all the other feelings we have about being “good” or “bad. Better to take the perspective of “that which is most compatible with our [weight loss, fat loss, bodyshaping] goals.”
Where these two voices make peace.
These two voices, very strong in any woman with a long and colorful diet history, can find a meeting place of peace.
A connecting point where they can join hands and walk you the path of fitness and weight loss freedom. It is a truce worth searching out and investigating.
The very process of this investigation will deliver to you very, very valuable information about what it is you really want in terms of your fitness, body-shaping, and weight loss goals. When we’re caught up in the confusion and swinging back and forth from one voice to the next, confusion and frustration reign. What we want is clarity, conviction, and of course, success. One of the very first questions I ask my weight loss clients and students in my coaching programs is “why do you want to lose weight? Or get fit? The answers to these questions, seriously considered, lead us to tremendous insights about our pathway. They unfold our power to build the mastery that brings us to realization of our goals.
Yes, we can integrate these voices by inviting them to joined forces as the disciplined eater.
The one who knows, deep down, the principles to embrace and strategies to implement to succeed at lasting weight loss.
The one who gets to eat, fully enjoying an alimentary experience. Embracing the very satisfaction of good food well eaten. Yes, we need a dietary plan. But all that is is disciplined eating.
And eating sounds so much more fun, free, and happy than “dieting”, yes?
It takes an inner energy shift, a different mindset, and disentanglement from the confused voices of the past.
I know, because it happened for me.
